Reviewing and discussing books (mostly YA and children's), reading and writing from the perspective of a secondary English teacher, research student and writer. My research is on reading, YA and diversity, so I'm sure that will be reflected here too.

Guest Blog: Maudie Smith on Rules! Rules! Rules!

Yes! It’s Opal Moonbaby time again! Maudie Smith’s fabulous debut impressed me last year and now the sequel is out.

About Zooming Time, Opal Moonbaby is out now (published 7th Feb) from Orion Children’s Books.

I can’t wait to see how Opal fares in her new life with Martha. We’re very fortunate to have Maudie stopping here at the Hearthfire on her blog tour to give us a bit more insight into her (and Opal’s) world.

Sometimes growing up can seem to be all about rules. Rules are everywhere: at the table, in the bathroom, in the street, at grandma’s house, in the cinema, on the bus. Do this, do that, watch out for those, don’t run here, don’t walk there, mind your language, mind the gap and while you’re about it, pull your socks up! It’s exhausting. Talk about multi-tasking. When we send our children out into the world there are just so many different ways they can get it wrong. We might as well be sending them out onto an ice-covered minefield with a basket of eggs to juggle – actually I think I may just have inadvertently described what it’s like to write a book, but I digress.

In order to learn children do have to get it wrong. It’s all about trial and error and this can lead to painful, awkward and embarrassing situations.

Opal Moonbaby gets it wrong. Super wrong. All the time. That’s because she’s an alien. She thinks you can swallow carrots whole and she tries to eat popcorn kernels before they’ve been popped. Yuk! She doesn’t know much about human etiquette. How would she know who it’s OK to pick your nose in front of? For all she knows, humans might sniff each other’s bottoms. After all, humans’ pet dogs do that. Opal Moonbaby makes a lot of social blunders but the great thing about Opal is that she doesn’t really notice or care. This is clearest of all when Opal joins Martha at her school, Archwell Park Primary.

At school, children learn a whole new set of rules. Some of them are simple ‘dos and don’ts’ and may appear in the official school rules, but others are more subtle and learned over time, almost through osmosis. For example, children don’t talk to teachers in the same way that they talk to people their own age and that’s because somewhere along the line they have learned to be respectful, or at least to be circumspect. Martha has learned how to keep a low profile in the classroom which the strict and sarcastic Mrs Underedge controls with a rod of iron.

But the words ‘low’ and ‘profile’ aren’t in Opal’s vocabulary. She pays very little attention to either circumstances or consequences. She hasn’t practised the art of conversing with adults, does not know not to answer back. She doesn’t understand sarcasm either so, not surprisingly, she and the teacher, whom she hugs enthusiastically at their first meeting, get off on completely the wrong foot.

Children are so busy being trained all the time I think – I hope – it will be a relief for them to read about someone as free and untrained as Opal Moonbaby. Opal might not be an ideal role model for children to follow, but she’ll definitely give them an entertaining break from the serious business of becoming ‘socialised’.

Opal seems pretty quiet and demure in this illustration but just look at Martha. She knows what’s coming!

‘I think that I am going to absolutely love being in Merry

Class and I’ll bet you’re a zooming fantastic teacher,

Mrs On-the-edge.’

What a great post! As a teacher, I’m very glad that children have characters like Opal to misbehave vicariously through 🙂 Thank you so much for visiting today – and for sharing Opal with us! Here’s what the blurb tells us:

The second in this sparkling series about the alien who came to stay!

And this time, she’s going to school…

Opal Moonbaby is spending a year on Earth. A whole year! Martha can’t wait to take her to school, to introduce her to her friends and to recreate all the fun they had during the summer.

But things don’t turn out quite as expected and before Martha knows it, Opal is off making new friends, doing new things and throwing herself into life on Earth – and Martha can’t keep up.

When Opal’s Uncle Bixie warns them that the nasty Mercurials, enemies from their home planet of Carnelia, are on their way to Earth, planning mischief, Martha begins to worry. But Opal is far too busy making friends to be bothering about those stupid Mercurials. Besides, her eyes would z-ray them immediately and she’d dazzle-kick them all the way back to Carnelia.

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*This blog was originally entitled ‘Thoughts From the Hearthfire’, as I like the comfy, cosy, stories around the fire connotations, but it has drifted into something much more education-focused over the years. It’s still books, books and more books though, so do pull up a chair and get comfy!